Liu Xiu: Master, What Realm Are You in Now?

Qingqing didn’t understand. Clearly, she had taken another secret peek for Liu Xiu’s own good, so why had her master apologized on her behalf? She was acting out of good intentions! How had it become her fault? Liu Xiu saw Qingqing’s attitude, and combining it with everyone’s expressions, he immediately understood everything and said with a smile. He also knew Qingqing truly didn’t understand the rules of the cultivation world, was a bit lacking in upbringing, and had a mind that worked in circles and couldn’t get straight to the point—she hadn’t realized that being wrong and having good intentions were two different things. Still, he figured it was partly his own fault for being too handsome! To be honest, it was quite troubling! “It’s fine. I’ve always been broad-minded and never hold grudges. I forgive you, Qingqing. If you want to watch me cultivate the Seven Yuan Corpse-Summoning Return-to-Mountain Secret Manual next time, just say so, and I’ll let you observe up close!” Liu Xiu said very kindly. “Friend is generous and magnanimous. This humble monk has nothing presentable to offer; only this ‘True Manual of Unperturbed Seven Emotions and Silent Emptiness’ can be brought forth. I hope friend will not disdain it!” Master Yixiu smiled, took out a mind-cultivating and nature-nourishing technique he had obtained during his travels, and handed it to Liu Xiu with both hands. Call it as it is. Although Qingqing had acted out of good intentions, that good intention was still built on secretly watching. Still, he thought Qingqing’s peeking was merely the work of a young maiden’s curiosity and budding romance. And the reason was… Liu Xiu was simply too handsome. Thinking this, Master Yixiu helplessly glanced at Jiale, feeling this foolish kid might end up dying alone. “Not disdained, not disdained. Thank you, Master!” Liu Xiu took it with a laugh. Master Yixiu said, “I won’t disturb you all,” and left with the thoroughly baffled Qingqing. “Qingqing, just say so next time if you want to watch!” Just how much had that woman seen? No, he’d have to properly scare her later, lest she leak his intellectual property. Liu Xiu waved goodbye with a laugh as he watched Qingqing and Master Yixiu depart, and subconsciously thought to himself, while the little villain in his heart frowned slightly. Seeing Liu Xiu’s attitude—exceedingly kind, fully displaying the bearing of the Maoshan School—Daoist Qianhe found it very familiar. He subconsciously thought of his own Seven Yuan Corpse-Summoning Return-to-Mountain Secret Manual, and wordlessly twitched the corners of his mouth twice. Four-Eyed Daoist didn’t think so much. He just felt Liu Xiu was indeed worthy of being his senior martial brother’s disciple, so he turned and glared at the good-for-nothing Jiale standing beside him. “???” What did I do now? Seeing his master’s attitude, Jiale looked blank and subconsciously stepped back half a foot, feeling his master might have a fever. “Eh? Master isn’t going to drop dead, is he? No way, I can’t afford that bronze-cornered golden coffin yet…” Jiale subconsciously thought of the bronze-cornered golden coffin. Four-Eyed Daoist withdrew his gaze and waved his hand. “Alright, you all go back to sleep. It’s getting late…” Knowing this was directed at them, Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei said yes. Jiale was about to say okay and then go check on Qingqing, but saw Four-Eyed Daoist turn and look at him. “You go warm up some rice for your martial brother Ah Xiu.” “…Oh!” Why me again? Just because I’m your disciple! Jiale grumbled an “oh” in his heart, silently resolved to check on Qingqing later, and ran to the kitchen to reheat the meal saved from dinner. And so, at the morgue entrance only Daoist Qianhe, Four-Eyed Daoist, and Liu Xiu remained. Four-Eyed Daoist glanced at the Black Jiangshi still covered by a black robe inside the morgue and said with a smile. “Martial nephew, don’t be discouraged. You should know that when your Martial Uncle Qianhe first cultivated the Seven Yuan Corpse-Summoning Return-to-Mountain Secret Manual, he was chased and bitten by a jiangshi. You’ve already done quite well!” “…” You’re trying to comfort someone, so why bring me up! Daoist Qianhe glared at Four-Eyed Daoist, his embarrassed old face slightly red as he looked toward Liu Xiu and nodded somewhat shamefully. “Yes, I was almost bitten!” “Uh…” Actually, I think it’s more afraid of me biting it… Thinking this, Liu Xiu didn’t dare look directly at the Black Jiangshi and only said, “I really did refine it into a Partial Silver-Armored Corpse!” “…” ×2 You don’t take after your senior martial brother in this! ×2 Thinking that his senior martial brother would never talk tough, Four-Eyed Daoist and Daoist Qianhe exchanged a glance. Daoist Qianhe thought for a moment, then took out a yellowed little booklet from his bosom. “Here. This is my cultivation insights on corpse driving. Uh, don’t misunderstand; those insights are also on that Seven Yuan Corpse-Summoning Return-to-Mountain Secret Manual, just slightly different!” “Oh…” This honest man really isn’t honest at all! Liu Xiu made an “oh” sound, laughing as he looked at the somewhat embarrassed Daoist Qianhe. After a while, he raised an eyebrow at the other book in his hand. Corpse driving from Four-Eyed Daoist, a book named “Cinnabar Soul-Suppressing Corpse-Controlling Mysterious Manual” with annotated insights. To be honest, he quite liked this misunderstanding! Watching Four-Eyed Daoist and his companion leave, Liu Xiu entered the morgue, lifted the black robe, and looked at the Black Jiangshi whose head, arms, and front torso had been successfully electroplated. That was why he said he had refined a Partial Silver-Armored Corpse, because electroplating was harder than he imagined. And it cost more silver than he imagined! So he settled for second best and mainly electroplated the arms, head, and front torso of the chest and abdomen. After all, these were the main attack and defense positions. Still, even though he only electroplated parts of the jiangshi, he hadn’t completely succeeded. Because the plating layer was too thin and couldn’t reach the point of being impervious to blades and spears. To achieve that, he had to keep electroplating those areas. “Am I really that scary?” Liu Xiu looked strangely at the Black Jiangshi that trembled at the sight of him. After thinking, he figured it was just the aftereffects of electric shock. He had occasionally seen this symptom in his previous life working as a personal rights protection negotiation specialist, so he was familiar with it. After covering the Black Jiangshi with the black robe, Liu Xiu wrote a sign with vicious words like “Anyone who looks at my jiangshi, their whole family dies” and hung it on the jiangshi. This was mainly to prevent Qingqing from doing so! After finishing all this, Liu Xiu left the morgue to go eat what had become a late-night snack. But after a few steps, he stopped, turned, and looked toward the wooden hut where Master Yixiu was. After thinking, he decided to eat his late-night snack later. Three minutes later. Master Yixiu, who had heard Qingqing’s scream and run over, twitched the corners of his mouth as he looked at the flowers at the door smoking from thunder arts. He then looked at Qingqing, clutching her head in fear inside the room, and suddenly felt Liu Xiu’s broad-mindedness wasn’t all that great. “Eh, Qingqing, what’s wrong with you?” Taking advantage of Liu Xiu eating his late-night snack, Jiale ran over to comfort Qingqing with a puzzled look. Master Yixiu twitched the corners of his mouth twice. “Scared by thunder…” “Thunder? How come I didn’t hear it? Eh, this is a soundless thunder. Has heaven become so powerful?” Jiale squatted down, looking at the flowers smoking from electricity at the door, spoke with a surprised look, and even reached out to touch them… “…” You’re playing dumb, right? Master Yixiu twitched the corners of his mouth twice, looked toward the living room where Four-Eyed Daoist was, then helplessly withdrew his gaze. Meanwhile, inside the wooden hut, Liu Xiu was happily eating his late-night snack. But not long after, his mood soured. It wasn’t that the food had gone bad, but that Daoist Qianhe came to his side and started saying things, like how family was very important. Daoist Qianhe said this mainly because Liu Xiu hadn’t cultivated the Seven Yuan Corpse-Summoning Return-to-Mountain Secret Manual and had instead gone to torment a jiangshi. And also because this morning, Liu Xiu had told Miss Su that after her parents died, their land and money were all seized by her uncles. As an elder, Daoist Qianhe felt he had to properly guide Liu Xiu so he wouldn’t go astray, so he came over. “Martial Uncle, actually I have a poetry name. Do you want to hear it?” Liu Xiu said with a laugh, putting down his chopsticks. “Eh? I’d love to hear it…” Daoist Qianhe showed curiosity, stopping his verbal lecture. Liu Xiu kept his smile unchanged as he sat in the chair and said. “Twelve, lost parents, family estate empty. Uncles divide property, seizing fields east. Unable to continue schooling, half-finished. Neighbors bully, clansmen mock, always following along. Powerful works often attacked by villains, clothes and bedding all pawned, can’t wrap the belly. Sick in a desolate village, no one cares. Several times near death, life like floating duckweed. Begging before dogs, enduring hunger and cold. Kneeling three days to enter the master’s door. Uncles hear the news and hurriedly return; I myself won’t let the debt go unpaid…” The poetry name stabbed at the heart like a knife. Daoist Qianhe, who always loved to laugh, completely lost his smile. Liu Xiu kept his smile unchanged. “Martial Uncle, why aren’t you laughing?” Having said that, Liu Xiu got up and walked out of the living room, leaving Daoist Qianhe wailing and crying, feeling he was truly damned. As Daoist Qianhe cried, the black taichi diagram on the wall above the offering table in the inner room began to buzz and tremble incessantly. In the next instant, a golden light flew out, bang—smashing straight into Daoist Qianhe’s face. A scream came from Daoist Qianhe as he was knocked to the ground. Seeing this, Four-Eyed Daoist, who had come running at the sound, scratched his head with a blank face, not understanding why his Ancestor Zongyan had hit Qianhe for no reason. Liu Xiu, hearing Qianhe’s screams and sobs as he came to the morgue, said with a strange look: “My martial uncle cries rather strangely!” Speaking, he frowned at his heartbeat, which was jumping a bit faster than usual. “What are you excited about? I already said the debt isn’t fully repaid…” Liu Xiu said this to himself, and also to the Liu Xiu he believed was a parallel spacetime counterpart—namely, the body he had replaced! Although in his view, this world’s Liu Xiu had become him through memory fusion, he still wanted to say it. Actually, recounting the original body’s experiences hadn’t caused any emotional ripples in Liu Xiu’s heart, let alone feeling ashamed. Because in his view, that was just the road he had traveled! But even though he thought that way, he still lowered his head to look at his heartbeat, which was a bit faster than usual, and silently said: “Rest assured. When we—uh, when I—return home, I’ll be able to see the things my parents left behind while alive. Uh, the things will all come back. In other words, I’m now a righteous path cultivator, so my methods need to look a bit better…” Liu Xiu finished muttering in his heart, then continued electroplating the Black Jiangshi. The night passed with basically nothing to say, except for a chat with Bai Min'er and another person when he had a moment. Then he chatted separately with the two women, cultivated a few spells, and the night passed safely. And so, time came to the next day. June 2nd, early morning, dawn breaking. Liu Xiu, sleeping on a grass mat on the morgue floor, opened his eyes with a look of having seen a ghost. He sat up, scratched his head, and said with a feeling that it was a bit absurd: “That should just have been a dream, right?” He had a dream, dreaming of a palace with very impressive special effects and grandeur. In the palace, he saw Shi Jian. The two had a conversation. The conversation in the dream was roughly as follows. Liu Xiu: Master, what realm are you in now? Shi Jian: Slightly higher than you, maybe! Liu Xiu: How much is “a little bit”? Shi Jian: Not chatting anymore, someone’s about to comment! Liu Xiu: ??? The memories of the dream ended. Liu Xiu stopped thinking about the dream that felt a bit terrifying, and instead got up to check the Black Jiangshi. “Perfect!” Confirming the Black Jiangshi wasn’t dead and still maintained its Partial Silver-Armored Corpse state, Liu Xiu laughed: “Kekeke, wholesale Silver-Armored…” He stopped his somewhat strange smile, silently thinking that wholesale gold-silver-bronze three armored corpses and becoming the richest man in the Republic of China was just around the corner. And his theory was indeed correct! High-pressure infiltration works, and electroplating works too! Liu Xiu put the black robe back on the Black Jiangshi properly, hung up that signboard, and just as he was about to leave the morgue to wash up… Dong! Dong! Dong— Three crisp knocking sounds rang out. Liu Xiu called out “Who is it?” Seeing no one answer, he frowned, took out a Colt from his storage thumb ring, and quietly went to the window to look outside. “Eh? No one?” Ten seconds later, standing at the morgue entrance, Liu Xiu looked left and right. Seeing no one, he looked at the two yellowed books and two bottles that looked quite extraordinary lying on the ground, probably appearing with the knocking sounds. “Martial Uncle Qianhe’s apology gift?” No, he shouldn’t have that kind of brain! Liu Xiu thought for a moment, subconsciously recalled Qianhe’s screams and sobs from last night. Roughly understanding everything, he raised an eyebrow at the inner room where the offering table and taichi diagram were placed. Then he looked again at the two books on the ground, titled “Secret Manual of Elixir-Scene Void-Riding and Sky-Soaring” and “True Register of Spirit-Summoning from the Three Mao Cave-Palace.” Spirit-summoning art? Flying technique? Aren’t these in my master’s study? Liu Xiu curled his lips, lifted his foot, hesitated for a moment, didn’t dare to kick them, and instead coldly snorted and deliberately said: “Martial Uncle is humiliating his martial nephew, right?” Having said that, Liu Xiu expressionlessly coldly snorted again, left the morgue, and went to the place where he had washed up last night to wash up. In the grass to one side, two golden lights manifested into two old Taoist figures—figures even cultivators would have trouble seeing—who had witnessed this action. One had an angry face, the other looked worried and sorrowful, and the one looking worried and sorrowful had a bump on his head. That is, Four-Eyed Daoist and Daoist Qianhe were not here. If the two had seen these two old Taoists, they would have respectively shouted “Ancestor Zongyan” and “Ancestor Daohe.” Just as Liu Xiu was thinking he could appropriately sell some misery after washing up and head to the living room, he stopped when he was almost at the living room door. Liu Xiu looked doubtfully at the living room door, where half of Daoist Qianhe’s swollen face was sticking out, and clicked his tongue. “Martial Uncle Qianhe, your face is…” “Ah Xiu, I’m sorry…” Daoist Qianhe’s face was full of shame. In his heart, he was still thinking “I’m truly damned.” Hearing this, Liu Xiu was stunned for a moment and said, “It’s fine, it’s fine. I forgive you…” Liu Xiu was about to say more but stopped. He silently watched Daoist Qianhe, who was unsteady from walking and kowtowed to him once. He blinked, looking without expression at the transparent old Taoist who had caused Qianhe to kowtow. To be honest, he wasn’t actually that aggrieved! Ancestor, you really don’t need to be so angry! Also, shouldn’t he owe me one in return! Just as he was thinking this, Liu Xiu suddenly looked up at the sky, where dark clouds appeared quickly, and pouring rain came down with a clatter. Raining before morning? Did the plot change again? At the same time, the voice of the narration cheat rang out. [Kekeke…]